Reason 4 of 10
The problem is not desire. It is sin.
The Buddha's first sermon says suffering comes from craving and ends when craving ends. The Bible goes deeper: the heart is turned away from God, and the cure is not to stop wanting, but to be forgiven and made new.
The four noble truths
In the first sermon, Rolling Forth the Wheel of Dhamma, the Buddha teaches that life is suffering, that suffering arises from craving, that it ends when craving fades away without remainder, and that the way to that ending is the noble eightfold path.
Now this is the noble truth of suffering. Rebirth is suffering; old age is suffering; illness is suffering; death is suffering; being coupled with the disliked is suffering; separation from the liked is suffering; not getting what you wish for is suffering. In brief, the five grasping aggregates are suffering. Now this is the noble truth of the origin of suffering. It’s the craving that leads to future lives, mixed up with relishing and greed, taking pleasure there wherever it alights. That is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for continued existence, and craving for nonexistence. Now this is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering. It’s the fading away and cessation of that very same craving no residue left behind; giving it away, letting it go, releasing it, and not clinging to it. Now this is the noble truth of the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering.
Samyutta Nikaya 56.11:4.1-4.8, Rolling Forth the Wheel of Dhamma (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
It is simply this noble eightfold path, that is: right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion. This is that middle way of practice, which gives vision and knowledge, and leads to peace, direct knowledge, awakening, and extinguishment.
Samyutta Nikaya 56.11:3.2-3.4, Rolling Forth the Wheel of Dhamma (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
What the diagnosis misses
The Buddha saw clearly that much of our misery comes from grasping. Christians agree: the Bible warns against greed, envy and lust. But the Bible says desire is not the root. God made us to desire: to hunger for righteousness, to long for him, to delight in good things. The root is that we have turned those desires away from God and toward ourselves. That is sin, and it is not only a mistake in perception; it is a wrong done against a person, and it brings guilt.
Guilt cannot be meditated away. If you have wronged someone, ending your craving does not undo the wrong. It has to be forgiven by the one you wronged.
9The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:9 (WEB) · context
23for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
Romans 3:23 (WEB) · context
4Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.
Psalms 51:4 (WEB) · context
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Matthew 5:6 (WEB) · context
4Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalms 37:4 (WEB) · context
The cure Jesus brings
Jesus did not come to teach a method for switching desire off. He came to forgive sins and give a new heart, and to be the one our deepest desires were made for. He calls the weary to come to him, and promises rest.
26I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26 (WEB) · context
28“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:28-29 (WEB) · context
35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
John 6:35 (WEB) · context
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 (WEB) · context
What Buddhists answer
Buddhists answer that craving (tanha) is not all desire but grasping, thirst that clings; wholesome aspiration, such as the wish to be free, is encouraged. They also say the idea of sin against God adds guilt and fear to suffering.
Why that answer falls short
Even if only clinging is meant, the diagnosis still places the problem in a psychological habit rather than in a broken relationship with God. That is why the Buddhist cure is a training of the mind and the Christian cure is a Saviour. And guilt is not invented by the Bible: every conscience knows it. The Bible does not leave us in it; it offers a forgiveness that is complete and free.
Where scholars and traditions differ
- Translators differ on the key word dukkha: suffering, stress, unsatisfactoriness. Sujato uses suffering.
Sources
- Earliest source Samyutta Nikaya 56.11 (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta). Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0), SuttaCentral.